


Thirty Years Later

by ClaireStar



Category: The Warriors (Yurick) - All Media Types
Genre: Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-14
Packaged: 2018-01-24 19:59:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1615232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireStar/pseuds/ClaireStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More than thirty years after the documentary "The Warriors" was released, an oral history gets the gang members to discuss their experiences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirty Years Later

The Warriors: 30 Years Later

INTERVIEWER: So let’s talk about the clothes, I mean the gang colors. The original documentary gained a lot of attention, in part because of the gangs’ distinct visual identities.

SANDRO BOLLETTI, FASHION INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: When that movie came out, it transformed American fashion. It transformed _world_ fashion. Designers got years of collections from those outfits. Kenzo based about a decade of looks on the Savage Huns, for God's sake. He wasn't even subtle about it. Versace was still borrowing from the Warriors at the end. His last fall line would have been based on the Bronx Zoo MacBoys, that gang with the Scottish tams and the animal print pants. 

REMBRANDT: One of the things few people understood is that these gangs, they had turf of a few blocks, at best. And the unspoken rule was that when it came to gang colors, you were supposed to buy local. The Rogues, they only shop they had was an S&M shop … a … gay leather shop. (He shrugs.) Sorry, that’s the only way I know how to describe that. That’s why they had those leather bikers’ caps. 

COWBOYS: The Warriors had a shoe factory and a quilting shop, so we were able to make some leather vests with discarded leather fragments. Since there were other gangs with vests, we got Vermin’s grandmother to sew some piping on the edges, give it a little style. Then we decided to go heavy on the accessories. Some of us with more success than others. To be fair, all we had were souvenir shops, so that’s how I ended up with a cowboy hat and ‘Chise ended up with his Cher headdress. Yeah, we told him he should have called himself Cherokee instead. Get it – Cher-okee? (laughs to himself). ‘Chise didn’t think it was too funny either.

VERMIN: The vest was a tough look to pull off. You really had to keep your weight down. It was hard for me back then – I always enjoyed wine, women and song, and sometimes it showed. Now I run five miles every day, and I'm twenty pounds lighter than I was back then. But I don’t wear the vest anymore. (Chuckles.) OK, once in a while I’ll put it on if the wife insists.

COCHISE: The Riffs were a strong organization. To get in, you had to kill someone with your bare hands. Think about that. It takes time to kill somebody without a weapon. It’s messy. It takes strength. It's loud. A lot of gangs used to want you to kill someone, but what made the Riffs different was that if you got caught, you didn’t make it in. Hell, if you mussed your clothing, you didn’t make it in. They wanted to operate under the radar, and look good doing it. I’m not sure they were all on board with Cyrus because he wanted to go public, but they believed in his vision. And the Riffs were all about the look, too, and Cyrus had it. If you couldn’t pull off the belted robe look, you didn’t make it in.

VERMIN: (Shakes head.) Yeah, those Riffs knew how to rock a silk kimono, and Cyrus was the one and only. Snow got scouted by the Riffs. He had those cheekbones, you know? They made him a good offer.

SNOW: I don’t know where he got this idea, really. Yes, I had coffee with Masai a few times. It never turned into anything. 

AJAX: Some of those gangs were really strange. Like the Baseball Furies? I had to give them some credit for that look. They were not gonna blend in, that’s for sure. You see some guy in a baseball uniform with their face painted, you take notice, unless it’s game day. (Smiles broadly.) I mean, what the fuck, right? We found out later that there was another reason for the makeup. A lot of these guys were in their 40s, had day jobs. The Baseball Furies were just a hobby for them, really. They could run though, that’s for sure. Our lungs were on fire and they weren’t even breathing hard. 

THURMAN, BASEBALL FURIES: It’s true. Most of us were in our late 20s or 30s and had lives, wives, kids. The Furies started out as a drinking group, then turned into a running club. We didn’t add the bats and the paint until we realized that even as a group, running through the park at night wasn’t safe. We still run the New York Marathon every year in full Furies attire, except for the shoes. Those cleats were making our orthopedists rich. 

SWAN: It was hard to get too intimidated by some of the other gangs. The fuckin’ Hi-Hats dressed like mimes and wore suspenders. Not scary. Unless you had a mime phobia, I guess. To be fair, those guys could empty out a subway car like nobody’s business. You see a bunch of mimes get into your car, it doesn’t matter why, you get out. (He’s lost in thought for a moment.) That’s one of the reasons I wanted out. I had this moment when I realized I was hiding from a gang dressed in denim overalls who thought I had killed some guy who wore a silk bathrobe over his day clothes. (Sighs.) Denim overalls, man. I couldn’t take it seriously anymore, except for the fact that those guys in the denim overalls were trying to kill us.  
 


End file.
